Newsboy
by The 21st Century Pendragon
Summary: Here is a moment from Lynn and Lincoln, where the former pushes her puny little brother to get out of his comfort zone and make a difference in his life...or her life.


**Here is the first of my series of one-shots with Lincoln and one of his sisters. Though I have tons of story ideas at place, I thought of giving this a shot, since one of the primary strengths of the show is Lincoln's bond with each of his sisters or collectively all of them. So, might as well with the sister he had the most complex out of – Lynn.**

Unusual for a setting in the Loud house (in exception of "The Sweet Spot"), this one is set at 4:59 AM. The night sky is still illuminating the sleepy Royal Woods, especially to the Loud residence. This is a perfect Sunday night for Lincoln to rest after a strenuous Saturday of…rest, honestly.

As he enjoys the slumbers, his alarm rings at 5:00 AM. Despite the earsplitting alarm, Lincoln continues to snooze. It still continues to ring for a few seconds. That is when an excited Lynn bursts to his door and hollers out to the relaxed 11-year-old.

"Lincoln!" Lynn gives her brother a wake-up call, but Lincoln retreats back to sleep. "Lynn, cut it out. A helpless person, need sleep here," he says drowsily.

"Come on Linc! Get up! Don't tell me you forget," Lynn calls him out while pushing his body to motion.

"Nahh…Don't know…what know…what you are asking again?" the 11-year old asks in a dozy manner.

Looking no hope, Lynn reverts to another solution. "Well, if that's the way you want it…" Lynn replies as she walks out of his room, making Lincoln go back to sleep. But obviously, the athletic 13-year old returns with a bucket of ice cold water and pours it to her brother to wake him up.

"AHHHHH! Cold!" Lincoln, freezing soaked, wakes up and wraps his body from the cold water. "LYNN!"

"Come on bro. No work and all play makes Linc a lazy boy," Lynn says, directing him downstairs to prepare for their errand.

Out of vexation, Lincoln shares his thoughts to the readers. "You might be wondering why my sister Lynn woke me up in exactly 5:01 AM in the morning, which should not be the case for a beauty sleep during the Saturday night. Well, allow me to relay what happened."

 _Start of Flashback_

"Lynn keenly observes my…how do I put this?...body habits. She often sees me in my relaxing times, which takes majority of my time."

Lincoln illustrates the fact that Lynn often sees him by the couch, on his bed and in the bathroom, doing nothing other than what limits to comics and entertainment.

He continues to narrate. "But whenever we tagged along at sports, she always sees me with a certain pet peeve. You can tell it from here," Lincoln emphasizes his point by bringing up his comics. And correct, Lynn's other pet peeve over Lincoln is seeing him read comic books during any sport they play. In basketball. In baseball. In football. In soccer. In volleyball. In tennis. In badminton. In ultimate Frisbee. In lacrosse. And even in chess.

"She can't get enough of it. So being the active one, she was determined to get me off the hook," Lincoln illustrates one moment when he is binge-watching a new series called _The Stranger Stuff_ and Lynn approaches him.

"Hey Linc! Got you a gig. Thought you might be interested." Lynn then hands over a flyer to Lincoln.

He reads it. "Need of paperboy. Deliver at shifts: 6-8am." Lincoln then turns to Lynn for his opinions, "Lynn, couple of things. One, I'm not usually a morning person; so this doesn't apply to me. And two, I don't like the job of a paperboy."

"Even though it's a $25 monthly grant guarantee?" Lynn points to the expected salary of the job.

Though he likes the prospect of earning from a simple odd job, Lincoln still refuses to accept. "Nahh. Not even worth the time. I have better things to do anyway."

Unsurprisingly, Lynn replies, "Like what? Videogames and comics?" Like a clever sports nut she is, Lynn drops a catch, "I told mom about this. Suggested the idea, and she agreed for you to take this job."

"What?! Lynn, how could you do that?" Lincoln complains, "Without my consent"

"What other choice do I have? It's either this or you have to accompany mom in her yoga classes."

As Lynn elaborates, Lincoln gulps in hesitation. He never likes his mom's odd routines, such as the aforementioned yoga classes. Naturally, Lincoln does not get inclined with an activity that is so marketed to moms. But, with no other choice, Lincoln accepts the job with a hesitant nod.

 _End of Flashback_

"Where are we going Lynn?" Lincoln asks.

"Need to get you into shape first before our job," Lynn actively replies as they proceed to the living room. "Now, jumping jacks!"

Lincoln takes three tries, only to give up, "Do we have to?"

"It's either this or yoga pants for you!" Lynn shouts unabashedly.

"Ayyy! Okay!" Lincoln responds in a panicky tone.

So, the odd couple goes through different warm-ups from basic jumping jacks to intense push-ups (with Lynn being latched on his back) and more intense sit-ups. After which, Lynn assures of their bodies' warm-up, "Good. Now you are ready…for the next stage."

"Stage? Wha?" Lincoln reacts as he is being dragged by Lynn, taking him to a walking cabinet. "Need to get you to look 'fit' for newspaper boy duty. I'm not a fashion expert myself but I know what you need." Lynn then hands a short neon green sleeved jersey, a red baggy shorts and sneakers for his getup. Lincoln reluctantly fits them, only to look ridiculous in his own eyes. Lynn inspects his outfit and gets enamored by it.

"Aww…you look just my teammates," Lynn cutely remarks, "Although they were first graders, but still." The athletic sister then pinches his cheeks out of praise. "You look so cute."

"Okay enough it," Lincoln rebuffs, "Let's just go do this job."

"Alright. Right where I'm at ya," Lynn replies, as Lincoln's short falls down for being too loose.

"I'll stick to my pants. End of story. Let's just deliver," Lincoln unremarkably exits.

"Not yet. We need to test your arm reflexes," Lynn adds.

"My what?" Lincoln asks as Lynn punches his arm. "Awww! Lynn!"

"Come on bro. Fight me back," Lynn tests him.

Not wanting to hold back, for the sake of his comforts, he throws punches to Lynn like out of a comedy sketch. "Is that all you got?" Lynn dismayingly replies.

Then the two siblings throw punches with each other, with Lynn having the most hits among them. The two then try Lincoln's throwing arm with baseball swings and air bowling bowls, with one legitimate hit to Lynn's nose. "Awww…Now that's what I'm talking about bro," Lynn relaxingly reacts.

Lincoln and Lynn then stroll to the garage for Lynn's bike from the "Hand-Me-Downer" episode (the pink one). "Dunno about this. I'll just be laughed by others by the bike you have," Lincoln remarks.

"You mean your supposed hand-me-down bike?" Lynn asks, "You'll definitely not use that one." Lynn directs Lincoln to the spot where his new bike is: the same bike that he stole from Lynn. "This one," Lynn points out the aforementioned bike, complete with an angelic aura playing as she announces.

"Wait, how did you get…?"

"Got help from Lana. Surprise to how she was able to fix the bike in complete tact."

Lincoln can only stare at the newly fixed bike, gleaming with all its glory. "Wow, never imagined it would be back." Lincoln then gets his bike helmet and clasps it to his head. "Well, here goes nothing. Thanks Lynn!"

"Anytime bro!" Lynn replies as she gets aboard on the edges and clings to his back. "Now off we go!"

"Wait! You are coming with me?" Lincoln asks.

"You need someone on your first day of your job," Lynn enthusiastically replies, "Besides, someone needs to evaluate you and wake you up every morning."

"Well, okay," Lincoln agrees as he struggles to pedal, "But you're heavy." Lynn doesn't mind it, so they set off.

They drop by at the newsstand, pick up their quota, load it to the bike basket and head off. Lincoln attempts his first newspaper throw that ends up hitting a chained dog. Needless to say, they rush, ignoring the dog's barks. And they go on a series of houses as Lincoln tries his best throws but they end up hitting to various objects like a sprinkler, a garden gnome, a mailbox, a car that sounded an alarm, a birdcage and even a garbage can. In the sidelines, Lynn cheers for the struggling 11-year old with "Go Lincoln! Go Lincoln! Go!" and pushes for his brother to either speed up or keep biking.

After they finish their quota, they go back to the newsstand to have Lincoln's daily delivery recorded and return home. While Lincoln can only feel the tiresomeness of biking, Lynn can solely feel the delight of joining Lincoln on something she wishes her brother to do.

"Wooh! Wasn't that fun, hey Linc?" Lynn enthusiastically expresses her delight, "I thought you were a goner like 'I quit this 'cause this ain't my sport'. But you did it!" She can only see her brother smothered to the ground, tired. "Well, at least you get to exercise some of these bones," she says as she inspects her brother's arm.

Lincoln can only groan from being tired. "You okay Linc?" Lynn asks, prompting another groan from Lincoln to answer her question. Lincoln then dozes to rest.

As he wakes up, Lincoln finds himself lounging by the living room couch with a towel at his back. At the table, he finds fresh waffles, eggs, spare bacon and orange juice to accompany it. Lynn then walks in.

"Hey Linc, doing fine?" Lynn asks in sympathy.

"Kinda fine. Muscles relaxing. How did I get here?" Lincoln responds.

"You got tired after your shift. So I carried you here," Lynn answers, "And look, I even left you breakfast."

"Really?" Lincoln is in utter shock.

"Uh-uh. I told mom about your shift. She was proud of you. So she opt to have you do this weekly but she allows you to do whatever you want after that."

"Really?" Lincoln again is in utter shock, "Never thought she would do that."

"Yep," Lynn agrees and shifts the topic, "Hey Linc, thanks for accepting this job. To be honest, that was the best bond I ever had with someone, well aside from other bonds I failed to remember. But I never felt something I could be proud of from someone."

"You really mean it?"

Lynn nods and then hugs Lincoln. Not surprisingly, Lincoln hugs her back. Lynn also rubs Lincoln's head as a gesture for being the older sibling.

"Hey, guess what I got," Lynn then pulls out a virtual video game headset (the Oculus Rift from "Get the Message").

"Is that…?" Lincoln wonders.

"Mom got a spare from a promo," Lynn replies and invites Lincoln for a rough play, "Want us to try it out?"

Delighted, Lincoln pulls out his headset and wears it on his eyes, preparing to battle Lynn. "Let's battle!" Lincoln hollers in excitement as the active duo duke it out multiplayer-mode in their headsets. Then, there goes more for Lincoln and Lynn's bonding time.


End file.
